What is your ferritin threshold to prescribe iron to female adolescent athletes who have symptomatic iron deficiency without anemia?
1 Answers
Mednet Member
Hematology · Georgetown University School of Medicine
Since ferritin should be truly reflective of iron levels as we should not expect elevated hepcidin levels in a young athlete. There, I would use 30 ng/mL which has a 98% specificity and 92% sensitivity for absent marrow hemosiderin. Also, since there is expected ongoing iron loss (0.6 mg/L of sweat ...